Color changing spinning toy



Marh 157959 I P. s. MORGAN I 2,875,553

COLOR CHANGING SPINNING TOY Filed'JSept. 17, 1952 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T INVENTOR 1 0,? TERI-5: 1/0654 BY ATTORN EYS March 3, 1959 I P. s. MORGAN 2,875,553

COLOR CHANGING SPINNING TOY Filed Sept. 17, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR PORTE/PS Maw/0N BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent COLOR CHANGING SBINNlNG TOY Application September 17, 1952, Serial No. 310,022

8 Claims. (Cl. 46-49) This invention relates to toys and/or display devices for amusing or attracting attention by presenting to view a succession of different color variations. An object of the present invention is to provide a device to produce many different and unpredictable color changes in the course of operation of the device so as to present to view an endless variety of colors and color combinations having amusing and attention-attracting and sustaining interest for both children and others for pleasure or advertising purposes.

- Thisis accomplished by the present invention by the provision of a plurality of superposed rotatable elements (preferably thin disks) displaying different colors and/or different arrangements of the colors and arranging these, with suitable common rotating and supporting means, so that the elements are free to and do shift their relative angular and superposed positions as an incident to change in speed of their respective rotary movements on the supporting means.

.The disks may be removably supported and may be supplied in an infinite variety of color combinations. For these purposes, each disk has a central aperture for receiving and frictionally engaging a driving stud and a slit extending outwardly from the aperture to the periphery of the disk. The slit, which is preferably more or less radial, has its edges laterally offset in opposite directions so that relative rotary movement of the disks causes one disk to pass through the slit of the other and change the superposed relation between them. In so doing, at times parts of several disks are simultaneously exposed, producing a blending of colors of indefinite variety and attractive appearance depending on the color and amount of the several disks exposed to view.

A disk may have a solid color, i. e., one color all over its face, or annular bands of different colors, and they may be opaque or transparent. If desired, a disk may also be white or black in Whole or in part. Exceptional results are obtained when the group of superposed disks consists of a mixture of such disks.

The myriad of interesting and startling color effects that can be produced by a device embodying the present invention can be amplified by the use of a reflector element surrounding the spinning color disks so that the colors viewed by the observer are translated by the reflector element in a different pattern surrounding the basic pattern produced by the spinning color elements, or different colors can be introduced other than those viewed by the observer in the primary color changing portion of the spinning disks.

The color change effected by the device is immediate and unpredictable upon the acceerttion or deceleration of the spinning colored disks which provide the actual color pattern. I Since the color changes take place-with such startling rapidity and in such a varied manner, the interest of an observer'may be held forlong periods of time. The device, therefore, will function excellently as a means to attract'the eye of the observer t'o'an area ice when used in conjunction with an advertising display, and it will also function to interest a child or other person playing with the device and to hold his interest over long periods of time.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate several embodiments of 'my invention:

Figure 1 is a sectional view, taken along line 1-1 on Fig. 2, of a toy illustrating one embodiment of the color changing device of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 isan end View thereof;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 on Fig. 1;

Figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views showing modifications of reflector elements which may he used;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of one form of color changing element forming part of my invention;

Fig. 8 is a side view thereof;

Figs. 9 and 10 are enlarged sectional views thereof taken along lines 99 and 1tl1t) respectively on Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a modified form of color changing element;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged, fragmentary, diagrammatic, sectional view showing the striking member and a plurality of color disks mounted thereon;

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12 with the color disks moved into a different superposed relationship;

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary perspective view of portions of two color disks in an overlapping position;

Fig. 15 is a plan view showing a plurality of color disks superimposed on one another and partially broken away to show their relative positions, the supporting and operating means being omitted;

Fig. 16 is a view similar to Fig. 15 with the color disks in different relative positions, one of the disks having annular bands which are white, black or of a different color from that of the rest of the disk;

Fig. 17 is a modification of the supporting and driving spindle;

Fig. 18 is another modification of a color element.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the color bearing disks 10 and 11 are mounted on a spindle 12 with the lower surface of the bottommost disk engaging the upper face of'a supporting member 13 and the lower surface of the bottommost disk 11 engaging the upper face of a supporting member 14. A shaft 15 is journaled in a housing 16 and may be rotated by a rack and gear arrangement mounted within the housing 16 including an actuating bar 17 slidably mounted within the housing. a

The forward end of said actuating bar 17 projects through an aperture in the front wall 18 of the housing 16 and the other end projects through a Z-shaped slot spring 26 acts to urge the actuating arm 17 to the left as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the shaft 23 is mounted in slots 27 so that it may have limited bodily movement relative to the housing 16 and shaft 15 to cause the gear 24 toengage and disengage the pinion 25. ment of the actuating-bar 17 moves the shaft 23in the slots 27 to the right and the gear 24 into engagement withthe pinion 25 and continued inward movement causesrg. x

Inward movetation of the gears, shaft 15, and color disks mounted thereon.

When the actuating arm 17 is released, the spring 26 returns'the bar 17 to its normal or at rest position as shown in Fig. 1. This movement of the actuating bar 17 and the normal force between gears 24 and 25 moves the gear 24 and pinion 25 out of engagement with one another leaving the shaft 15 free to spin by its own momentum.

Because the color changing efiect takes place only on change of speed of the superposed color disks relative to each other and their spindle, it may not be desirable to wait for the normal fractional forces to retard the rotation of the shaft 15 so that another color change can be caused to appear. For this reason, a braking element 29 is provided at the rearward end of the actuating bar 17. When the actuating bar 17 is returned to its normal'posi tion of rest, as shown in Fig. 1, the inner end of the braking element 29 engages the shaft 15 and exerts a braking force thereon, slowing it down at a much greater rate than would normal friction.

In the broader aspects of my invention, the color-carrying elements may be all of the same size and shape orrnay be of different sizes and shapes. They may be used in single groups or multiple groups. For instance, as shown in Fig. l, the colored disks It] may be larger in diameter than the colored disks 11 located above them, and they may be substantially circular as shown in Fig. 7, or segmental as shown in Fig. 18. The discs may be of paper, cardboard, sheet metal, or plastic material, as desired.

Since the disks 11 may be like the disks 10 in construction, the description regarding the disks til, it will be understood, will apply also to the disks 11.

T o mount the colored disks 1th on the spindle 12, each disk is provided with a centrally located circular hole or aperture 36 of such size as to receive and have a slip-fit on the spindle 12, but loose enough thereon to rotate around the spindle under the influence of inertia or momentum. Each disk is provided with a slit 31, preferably radial, extending from the aperture 30 to the edge of the disk as shown in Fig. 7, and the opposite marginal edges of the slit are bent in opposite directions to provide downwardly and upwardly extending lips 32 and 33 forming a guiding entrance opening through which the similar edge portions of a slit of an adjacent disk may pass.

As shown in Fig. 7, the slit may be widened to become a V-shaped notch 31a opening at the edge of the disk which further facilitates the entrance of one disk through the slit of another. To counterbalance the disk, opposite the V-notch 31a a portion of the disk is made flat as at 31b. The slit 31 and V-notch 31a also facilitate the mounting of the disk on the spindle, for it permits the disk to be pushed over and readily flexed until the spindle 12 is received in the aperture 30.

A flange 12a, larger in diameter than the aperture 30, is provided in the spindle 12 to keep the disks from inadvertently slipping off the spindle.

The downwardly propecting lips 32 on the disks perform an additional function of providing adriving connection between the supporting member 13 and the disks. For this purpose, the supporting member 13 is provided with a raised portion 35 forming a striker lying in the path of the lips 32. When the actuating bar 17 is operated the striker 35 will engage the lowermost lip 32 and give a spinning impetus to the disk so struck. In order to reduce the wear and tear on the disks, the striker 35 is by the rotation of the support 13, and, due to the blow thus imparted to the disk 10a, its rotation is accelerated faster than the disks 1% and 10c, the latter being, however, put in motion by frictional contact with the disk 10a and by a' frictional contact with the spindle 12. The result of this relative movement between the disks is that the upwardly extending lip 33a of the disk 10a rides over the downwardly extending lip 32b or" the disk 10b, as shown in Fig. 13, and part of the disk 10b overlies part of the disk 10a. At the same time, depending on chance and partly controlled by the suddenness and the force with which the operating bar 17 is moved, the other disks also change their superposed relation. For instance, as shown in Fig. 13, the upwardly turned lip 33b of the disk 10b has ridden over the downwardly turned lip 320 on the disk 10c and the disk ltlb has started its progressive movement through the slit 31. This partial overlapping of one disk on another is bestillustrated in Figs. l4, l5 and 16.

The relative movement between the disks may continue until one of the lower disks becomes the uppermost disk and so on indeterminately during the operation of the device. It is this constant changing of the extent of overlapping of one colored disk with relation to adifierently colored disk and the constant changing of the superposed relations of the disks which produces so many difierent color effects.

It will be understood, of course, that when the disks are spinning rapidly, the extent of overlapping on one disk with respect to the others is not observed. Rather, the optical effect of the rapidly spinning disks is a blending of the colors or a tinting of the blended colors should one of the disks partially showing be white. Should one of the disks be black or partially black, that part ofit which is black does not appear black or alter the general optical impression received from the spinning disks.

According to the present invention, the disks may be opaque and have their surfaces colored or they may be made of colored translucent material. Additional variations in color displays may be obtained by using one or more of such translucent colored disks superposed with non-translucent colored disks.

Further interesting and attractive displays may be ob-' erated, does actually occur with sudden changes of speed whether it be accelerating or decelerating, and changes in the optical eliect can be produced by repeatedly operating the actuating bar 17 in short strokes without allowing it to return to normal position of rest in which the brake 29 tends to slow down the rotation of the spindle 12.

When the disks 10 are used in connection with the disks 11 of smaller diameter operating on a separate portion of the spindle 12, each group of disks acts independently of the other, and according to the laws of chance cause different eifects at different times, but the overall effect of using the smaller and larger disks is to produce the appearance of a circle, the inner part of which gives one optical effect and the outer part of which gives another optical effect. 7

In order to further accentuate the various color efiects and provide a varying and interesting border for the primary color changing portion of the disks 10 and 11 themselves, a reflector 36 may be provided as shown .in Figs. 1 and 2. The reflector shown is substantially cylindrical or cap-like, and its inner surface 37 is highly polished so that it will reflect the changing colors presented by the disk. As can be noted by schematic reflection rays, the color shown by the reflector 36 may be different from that appearing on the surfaces of the disks since the color reflected will be from the undersides of the disks. The reflector 36, in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. l, is secured to the housing 16 and does not rotate.

Figs. and 6 illustrate different types of reflectors that may be employed to provide more varied and novel effectsthe reflector of Fig. 5 being provided with a series of indentations 38 so that the color of the light picked up by these indentations will be different from that reflected by the flat surface, while the reflector of Fig. 6 is provided with a series of annular grooves 39- alternate grooves picking up a different color light and presenting concentric bands of different colors to the eye of an observer.

Fig. 17 illustrates a modified form of spindle 12. In this modification the spindle has an upwardly extending portion 41 provided with a groove 42. Color elements preferably not extending over the full area of a circle are held in a groove 42. A color element 44, such as shown in Fig. 19, has an aperture 45 and slit 45a so that it may be slid over the spindle extension 41 and be seated within the groove 42.

The friction between the colored element 44 and the spindle extension 41 causes the latter to rotate and continually alter the optical effect of the underlying position-changing disks but in different ways according to the position it takes on the spindle extension resulting from rotational slipping occurring between the element 44 and the extension 41.

It will be understood that the shoulder 35 may face in the opposite direction from that shown and the direction of the lips 32 and 33 may be reversed so that deceleration of the spindle produces the relation-changing impetus to be given to the disks.

It should also be understood that the actuating rod 17, while admirably suited for manual operation, may be operated by power. For instance, it may be operated intermittently by a cam driven by an electric motor or other suitable means.

It should also be understood that the colored disks of the present invention may be made in an infinite variety of colors and designs to be used interchangeably on the rotating mechanism.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A color display device comprising a rotatable support, means for rotating the support and rapidly and intermittently accelerating and decelerating the rotation thereof, and a plurality of disks in superposed engagement, each having a central aperture to receive said support in frictional driving engagement therewith and free for unlimited rotary movement with respect to the support and other disks thereon, the disks having respectively differently colored outer faces and each disk having a slit extending from said central aperture to the periphery of the disk, at least a portion of both of the adjacent edges of the slit being offset laterally respectively in opposite directions from the plane of the disk to form a guide throat through which an underlying disk may pass when oppositely offset edge portions of adjacent disks ride over each other due to relative movement between the disks resulting from the inertia of the disks and the friction between them so that one disk may be partially exposed to view and cover part of the face of another disk and the disks may change their relative superposition by the one passing completely through the slit of another disk,

and driving means carried by the rotatable support for rotation therewith for giving a positive spinning impetus to the adjacent disk.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1,. in which the rotating means carried by the rotatable support for giving a spinning impetus to the disk comprises an abutment to strike the edge of the slit of a disk lying in its path.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2, in which said abutment is made of resilient material to reduce wear and tear on the disks.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which said means for rotating the support includes a. reciprocating driver and cooperating gears which engage when the driver is moved away from normal home position and disengage whenthe driver is in normal home position and frictional braking means for decelerating the rotation of the support when the driver is in normal home position.

5. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which an additional group of colored disks of smaller diameter than said first-named disks, and driving means therefor, are separately supported by said support above said firstnamed disks.

6. The invention as defined in claim 1, in which a colored element is separately supported by said rotatable support above said colored disks.

7. A disk for a color display device having a color displaying face, a central aperture to receive a rotatable support, and a slit through said disk and extending from said central aperture to the periphery of the disk, the adjacent edges only of the slit being at least partially offset laterally respectively in opposite directions from the plane of the disk to provide an entrance guiding opening between opposite sides of the disk.

8. A color display device comprising a rotatable support, means for rotating the support and rapidly and intermittently accelerating and decelerating rotation thereof, and a plurality of disks in superposed engagement carried by said support, there being at least three such disks, each disk having a central aperture to receive said support in frictional driving engagement therewith. and free for unlimited rotary movement with respect to the support and the other disks thereon, the disks having respectively differently colored outer faces and each disk having a slit extending from said central aperture to the periphery of the disk, at least a portion of both of the adjacent edges of the slit being offset laterally respectively in opposite directions from the plane of the disk to form a guide throat of sufiicient width through which at least two underlying disks may pass when oppositely offset edge portions of adjacent disks ride over each other due to relative movement between the disks resulting from the inertia of the disks and the friction between them so that one or more of the disks may be partially exposed to view and cover part of the face of one or more other disks and the disks may change their relative superposition by one or more of the disks passing completely through the slit of one or more other disks, and driving means carried by the rotatable support for rotation therewith for giving a positive spinning impetus to the adjacent disk.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 207,649 Forbes Sept. 3, 1878 505,943 Fischer et al Oct. 3, 1893 518,316' Grove Apr. 17, 1894 1,145,086 Secor July 6, 1915 1,685,411 Arnold Sept. 25, 1928 1,717,868 Zick June 18, 1929 2,548,837 Wright Am. 10. 1951 

